6. Visit the site of International Association of Forensic Linguists http://www.Iafl.Org/ What are research areas of Forensic Linguistics?

7. Visit the site http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/evidence-witnesses-expert/8956591-1.html read the publication “Forensic linguists becoming more important part of criminal investigation” by Dahl Dick. What are practice areas forensic linguists are involved in?

8. CASE STUDY: Read and discuss the article in small groups. Provide arguments for and against validity of linguistic evidence in this case.

Bnp 'arsonist' in court

A prominent member of the right-wing group the British National Party has appeared before a Lincoln court charged with multiple counts of arson and criminal damage. Stephen Bailey (41) is accused of setting fire to sheds, litter bins and a car as well as a spate of car vandalism in the city's High Street. Bailey has not entered pleas to 35 charges of criminal damage and 19 charges of arson. Bailey, of St Botolph's Crescent, Lincoln, is accused of setting fire to sheds, litter bins and a car between May and November 2003.

It is also alleged that he was involved in incidents of car tyres being slashed and bodywork damaged. The cars were parked off the southern end of Lincoln's High Street. The Lincolnshire Echo reported on the damage to more than 80 cars. Tyres were slashed, aerials were snapped off, bodywork was damaged and bonnets were walked over. The incidents all happened late at night. Angry car owners held an all-night vigil and police carried out house-to-house inquiries. Bailey was arrested after police seized computer equipment and documents from his home in St Botolph's Crescent, where he has lived with his wife for 16 years. He appeared before Lincoln Magistrates' Court. Bailey's solicitor Leo Pyle told the court there was a question mark over his client's fitness to enter a plea.

The case was adjourned to January 31. Bailey was given bail on condition that he did not enter certain streets in Lincoln or contact witnesses.

Nature of linguistic input

Some time after defendant's arrest, police located and seized a diary which apparently recorded many of the events of which defendant was accused. Defendant claimed he had only made entries in the diary after he had been accused because, he reasoned, as he had been accused he 'might as well' write the events down. The linguistic issue was whether the diary appeared to have been compiled contemporaneously with the events or whether there was any linguistic evidence to uphold the defendant's version, namely that the record was made significantly post-event. Linguist considered a number of other types of text which were either compiled historically or contemporaneously. It was suggested that contemporaneity vs historicity is a continuum, and that certain linguistic features are more readily associated with either historicity or contemporaneity. Cohesion and narrative coherence are two important factors in testing for contemporaneity. Diary was analyzed and it was concluded that it was contemporaneous with events. Outcome: Defendant was found guilty.

(retrieved from http://libcom.org/news/bnp-arsonist-in-court-13012006)

REVIEW: UNITS 1-2

1. Check yourself. Do you know:

• What is forensic science?

• What are two meanings of Forensics?

• What is forensic competition?

• What is the formal structure of an argument?

• What use of arguments do you know?

• What is Forensic linguistics?

• What language problems could be considered in civil cases?

• What is linguistic profiling of a person?

• What is the role of forensic linguist in a trial?

• What language problems do lawyers face in their professional communication?

2. PROJECT WORK:

• Study the guidelines on academic writing: http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm

• Do research, write and present a report on one of the following topics:

1. Development of Forensic linguistics.

2. Cross cultural aspects of Forensic linguistics.

3. Current problems of Forensic linguistics.

4. Language evidences in the court.

5. Forensic linguist in the court.

UNIT 3

Read the text: